Ferdinand Christian Baur: Judaism As an Historical Antipode of Christianity

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Ferdinand Christian Baur: Judaism As an Historical Antipode of Christianity FERDINAND CHRISTIAN BAUR: JUDAISM AS AN HISTORICAL ANTIPODE OF CHRISTIANITY Although the scope and date of Ferdinand Christian Baur’s more direct involvement with Hegelian ideas is disputed, Baur undoubtedly operated with an idealistic dialectical model of history. He did this in a similar vein to Hegel, regardless of whether it was initially the result of direct inspiration from Schelling or from Hegel himself.1 In any case, with Baur as the founder of what is known as the (New) Tübingen school,2 idealistic dialectical history in Baur’s specifi c conception became the vogue in the discussion of early Christian history, conditioning much of it for the rest of the century. Hence—and because the structures of his thought remain in New Testament research tradition—Baur stands as one of the founding fathers of New Testament exegesis.3 The study of 1 The dependence on Hegel is too evident to be disputed; according to Baur’s own confession from 1833, he was a Hegelian, W. Geiger, Spekulation und Kritik. Die Geschichtstheologie Ferdinand Christian Baurs, vol. XXVIII, Forschungen zur Geschichte und Lehre des Protestantismus (München: Chr. Kaiser-Verlag, 1962), 39. On Baur and the Tübingen school, see Horton Harris, The Tübingen School (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975), and on Baur and Hegel, Peter C. Hodgson, The Formation of Historical Theology. A Study of Ferdinand Christian Baur, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, Makers of Modern Theology (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1966), 1–4, 265, with a nuanced view of Baur’s dependence on Hegel. Carl E. Hester, “Baurs Anfänge in Blaubeuren”, in Historisch-kritische Geschichtsbetrachtung. Ferdinand Christian Baur und seine Schüler. 8. Blauberger Symposion, ed. Ulrich Köpf (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1994), passim, also notes the infl uence from Schelling. 2 This concept is by no means unambiguous, see Ulrich Köpf, “Die theologischen Tübingen Schulen”, in Historisch-kritische Geschichtsbetrachtung. Ferdinand Christian Baur und seine Schüler. 8. Blauberger Symposion, ed. Ulrich Köpf (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1994). The Tübingen school here is to be distinguished from the old Tübingen school, as well as from the Catholic one, all with very different views, Köpf, 15. Baur himself was trained in the old Tübingen school. 3 Baur truly is an exegete, although the scope of his writings may primarily be designated as church history. His infl uence on exegesis has been immense, Käsemann in Ferdinand Christian Baur, Auserwählte Werke in Einzelausgaben, vol. I–V (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Friedrich Frommann Verlag (Günther Holzboog), 1963–1975 (1831–)), I:8. The basic material used for the analysis of Baur is the texts published in Baur, Ferdi- nand Christian, ed. Klaus Scholder, I–V, Baur, Auserwählte Werke in Einzelausgaben, but also Ferdinand Christian Baur, Paulus, der Apostel Jesu Christi. Sein Leben und Wirken, seine Briefe und seine Lehre. Ein Beitrag zu einer kritischen Geschichte des Urchristenthums, 2., nach dem Tode des Verfassers besorgt von Eduard Zeller ed., vol. 1 (Leipzig: Fues’s Verlag (L. W. 98 part i. enlightenment exegesis and the jews Morgan, Semler, Herder, Schleiermacher and de Wette indicates that Baur may not have produced the original sketches of Jews and Judaism in early Christianity.4 It is well known that Schleiermacher’s Glaubenslehre led to a breakthrough in Baur’s thinking—“without Schleiermacher, Baur’s entire research is unthinkable”.5 However, Baur combined this and other infl uences into a new synthesis, through his extensive writing but also through his infl uence on students and followers, constructing a building in which generations of scholars would dwell. A Dialectical Movement from Paganism and Judaism to Early Christianity Baur’s is a history of great sweeps, and since he is fi rst and foremost an historian, the place of Christianity in world history is of interest to him. Throughout his production runs a coherent narrative about the dialectical movement from two religious worlds on the verge of dissolution, and how this is followed by a new synthesis, Christianity. Baur notes that the rise of Christianity and the apex of the Roman Empire coincide in time: It is a genuinely world-historical viewpoint that at the same time as the Roman Empire united all the peoples of that time into a universal mon- archy, the religion, too, began its course through the world, dissolving (aufhob) all religious particularism into universalism.6 This describes a moment in time when the national, the particular and the individual unite into two great bodies, the Roman Empire Riesland), 1866). On Baur, see e.g. Roy A. Harrisville and Walter Sundberg, The Bible in Modern Culture. Theology and Historical-Critical Method from Spinoza to Käsemann (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), 111–130, Klaus Scholder, “Baur, Fer- dinand Christian (1792–1860)”, in Theologische Realenzyklopädie (1980). Modern scholars who build expressly on Baur’s description of New Testament history include Goulder, see Michael D. Goulder, Paul and the competing mission in Corinth, ed. S. E. Porter, Library of Pauline Studies (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2001), 7–8. 4 Baur himself quotes J. E. C. Schmidt for the basic analysis of two competing parties in Corinth, Baur, Auserwählte Werke in Einzelausgaben I:16, and both Semler and F. von Schelling infl uenced Baur, Goulder, Paul and the competing mission in Corinth, 1. 5 Peter Friedrich, Ferdinand Christian Baur als Symboliker, vol. 12, Studien zur Theolo- gie und Geistesgeschichte des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975), 37–38, quotation from an unpublished dissertation by Eberhard Hermann Pältz, “F. Chr. Baurs Verhältnis zu Schleiermacher” (Diss. Jena), 1955. 6 Baur, Auserwählte Werke in Einzelausgaben III: 2. For Baur on particularism and universalism, see Heschel, Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesu, 113. .
Recommended publications
  • Is There a Judeo-Christian Tradition?
    Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition? Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts Edited by Vivian Liska Editorial Board Robert Alter, Steven E. Aschheim, Richard I. Cohen, Mark H. Gelber, Moshe Halbertal, Geoffrey Hartman, Moshe Idel, Samuel Moyn, Ada Rapoport-Albert, Alvin Rosenfeld, David Ruderman, Bernd Witte Volume 4 Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition? A European Perspective Edited by Emmanuel Nathan Anya Topolski Volume inspired by the international workshop “Is there a Judeo-Christian tradition?” as part of the UCSIA/IJS Chair for Jewish-Christian Relations, organized by the Institute of Jewish Studies of the University of Antwerp and the University Centre Saint Ignatius Antwerp (UCSIA). An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libra- ries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access. More information about the initiative can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. ISBN 978-3-11-041647-3 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-041659-6 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-041667-1 ISSN 2199-6962 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed
    [Show full text]
  • The Opponents of Paul
    The Opponents of Paul Roy Bowen Ward It was Ferdinand Christian Baur who first decisively pointed to the importance of the opponents of Paul for the understanding of both Paul in particular and early Christianity in general.1 Even if Baur's reconstructions are open to criticism,2 he succeeded in making the question of the character of the opponents an inescapable one. Baur supposed that Paul developed his doctrine in opposition to the primi­ tive Christian community, especially in opposition to a Petrine party. Even if wrong in this particular supposition, Baur drew attention to the fact that there was variety in early Christianity and that Paul was by no means admired by all within the early church. It is not necessary to labor the point that modern New Testament studies are indebted to Baur nor to criticize again the specific theses of Baur. Nevertheless, one legacy from Baur is especially regret­ table. Baur treated the problem of Paul his opponents In a rather simplified way, viz., two parties divided over the judaizing question. Johannes Munck has noted the way in which the literary hypotheses of Baur were soon rejected, but the historical-theological reconstruc­ tion was able to linger on in current scholarship; that is, the leitmotiv in the history of early Christianity continues to be seen by many as the contrast between Gentile and Jewish Christianity.3 Hans Leitz- mann serves as a convenient example of this view. In his popular history of early Christianity Leitzmann speaks of Paul: Wherever he went, the "Judaizers" followed. These emis­ saries were in continual contact with Jerusalem, and they made it seem credible to the churches that James and the original Apostles stood behind them.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Introduction This book was started with the average theology student in mind. In my fifteen years of teaching theology at undergraduate and postgraduate level, I have come to understand that, within most student quarters, the dominant image of Ferdinand Christian Baur is that of a theologian associated with a nontraditional perspective on the Bible—generally dubbed “liberal”—so his name is primarily connected with biblical studies. It has become evident to me that a significant number of students do not even realize that Baur was more than just a biblical theologian, let alone ask why he believed what he wrote in his numerous academic productions. His interest in philosophy and religion escapes most students interested in theology, so questions related to his understanding of these issues rarely surface during courses and seminars. Consequently, I began to write this book hoping that theology students would understand not only what lies beneath Baur’s “liberal” (in the sense of nontra- ditional, because he did precede German theological liberalism) perspective on the Bible, but also get a sense of how his perspective on theology was shaped by a couple of his famous predecessors, most notably Jakob Böhme and G.W.F. Hegel, to whom Baur is greatly indebted for his intellectual development. It should be said here that Böhme and Hegel are not the only figures who moulded Baur’s understanding of religion in general and of Christian theol- ogy in particular. Friedrich Schelling and Friedrich Schleiermacher were also mentioned alongside Böhme
    [Show full text]
  • Book Reviews 283 Benjamin Lazier, God Interrupted
    book reviews 283 Benjamin Lazier, God Interrupted: Heresy and the European Imagination Between the World Wars (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2008), pp. XIV, 254; ISBN: 978-0-691-13670-7 The first surprise amazing the reader of a book about three major figures among the Jewish intellectuals in Weimar Germany— including Gershom Scholem—is the author’s choice of the two other protagonists, Hans Jonas and Leo Strauss. One has become used to expect rather Walter Benjamin and Franz Rosenzweig and is therefore grateful for Lazier’s shifting of the focus. The book starts with three mottos by Augustine (his answer to “what is God”), Karl Barth (answering the question “what is the world?”) and Hans Jonas (stating that the world is “an unending revelation of matter”). Certainly Augustine and Barth are not considered to represent Scholem and Strauss (or vice versa), yet apparently both of them, the neo-Platonic genius from the fifth century and the dialectical theologian from the twentieth century, matched in some way the spiritual needs of the period between the World Wars; and indeed, the reader will meet them again throughout the book. The second, less perplexing surprise follows immediately: the Table of Contents, which lacks any hint of Maimonides (though he is of course present in the book), and guides the reader through the maze of heresies by means of the three markers Gnosticism, Pantheism, and Redemption through Sin, the last one referring to a famous essay published in Hebrew by Scholem in 1937. The author informs us in his preface that he primarily intended to call his own book by this very same title “as homage to Gershom Scholem” (p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Perspective of Mosheim and Neander
    Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Doctor of Theology Dissertation Concordia Seminary Scholarship 5-1-1994 Integrity and Integration in Ecclesiastical Historiography: The eP rspective of Mosheim and Neander Paulo Buss Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.csl.edu/thd Part of the Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, and the History of Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Buss, Paulo, "Integrity and Integration in Ecclesiastical Historiography: The eP rspective of Mosheim and Neander" (1994). Doctor of Theology Dissertation. 9. http://scholar.csl.edu/thd/9 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Theology Dissertation by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © Copyright 1994 by Paulo W. Buss CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND DEDICATION iii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNINGS OF LUTHERAN HISTORIOGRAPHY 11 Luther's view of History Knowledge of history History seen with human eyes God and History The church and its history Philosophy or theology of history? Uses of history Luther from the perspective of integrity and integration Luther's impact on historiography The Magdeburg Centuries Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff II. JOHANN LORENZ MOSHEIM 51 Life and works Writings and influence Mosheim's
    [Show full text]
  • CHRISTIANITY, DIASPORA JUDAISM, and ROMAN CRISIS* Robert M
    CHRISTIANITY, DIASPORA JUDAISM, AND ROMAN CRISIS* Robert M. Price Acts of the Apologists I fi rst came to the study of the Bible as a would-be theologian, which meant I wanted to take the great menagerie of texts and genres and feed them into a meat grinder that would give me neatly packaged sausages called “theology.”1 It was, as some Postmodernists like to say, “Logocentric,” at least an exercise in abstraction. I wanted to press Scripture into the service of so-called Systematic Theology. When I thought I had jumped the track and changed my focus to New Testament and Early Christianity as a descriptive discipline, little did I suspect I was still trying to play the same game. I was trying to construct an abstract template of “Christian Origins,” as church historians had always done, and then fi t all the data of the New Testament and the Church Fathers into that symmetrical systematic outline. I began with the traditional outline, accepted by Christian historians since Eusebius in the fourth century. According to this schema, Christianity began with Jesus Christ who taught true doctrine to his disciples, the apostles. The sum and substance of this faith was preserved in the Apostles’ Creed. The apostles in turn taught the true doctrine to their appointed successors, the bishops, who in turn trained their own successors, the next generation of bishops, and so on down the line. As the offi cial version had it, Satan waited until the last of the original apostles died and then began to train and send out heretics to corrupt the church with false doctrines.
    [Show full text]
  • C:\WW Manuscripts\Back Issues\12-1 Luke
    Word & World 12/1 (1992) Copyright © 1992 by Word & World, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. All rights reserved. page 68 Listening to John and Paul on the Subject of Gospel and Scripture* J. LOUIS MARTYN Union Theological Seminary, New York, New York I. READING AS LISTENING Let me begin by inviting you to take a brief trip, chronologically back in time a third of a century to 1957, geographically across the Atlantic to the delightfully low-key university town of Göttingen. For me it was a Fulbright year; and the main attraction of Göttingen was the presence there of two very different New Testament scholars, Joachim Jeremias and Ernst Käsemann. The year left indelible marks on me from both men. At the moment, however, thinking about the year 1957-58 takes me back to two other Neutestamentler, Walter Bauer and Ferdinand Christian Baur. And pondering aspects of the work of the two Bau(e)rs leads me, in turn, to two observations about the learning process that has claimed my allegiance over the third of a century since 1957, and that, more than anything else, has led to several changes of mind. The first of these observations has to do with Walter Bauer. He had been in Göttingen when Jeremias arrived from Greifswald in 1935. In 1957 this grand old man, then 80 years of age, was still living there, in retirement, and the multiple aspects of his legacy were much in evidence. The one that became most important to me is not to be found in any of his writings, so far as I know.
    [Show full text]
  • A Tale of Light and Darkness: Martin Buber's Gnostic Canon and The
    religions Article A Tale of Light and Darkness: Martin Buber’s Gnostic Canon and the Birth of Theopolitics Orr Scharf Cultural Studies M.A. Program, The University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel; [email protected] Received: 18 January 2019; Accepted: 29 March 2019; Published: 1 April 2019 Abstract: The current article revisits the tenuous relationship between Martin Buber’s conception of divine rule on earth (theopolitics) with Carl Schmitt’s famous notion of political theology, by underscoring their shared, though diametrically opposed interest in Gnostic ideas. Based on a reading of Buber’s heretofore unpublished lectures on Judaism and Christianity, the study outlines the nexus between the German tradition of scientific research, religious ideology and political visions, in order to show that Buber’s treatment of Gnosticism in the lectures is belied by an implicit critique of Schmitt’s dualistic distinction between friend and foe that legitimizes the subversion of liberal democracy. The Gnostic canon that Buber identifies in certain parts of the New Testament is shown to be based on the very same scientific research that fed Schmitt’s fascination with Gnostic teachings. Keywords: Buber; Martin; Gnosticism; Theopolitics; Schmitt; Carl; Science; Baur; Christian Ferdinand; Harnack; Adolph von; Bousset; Wilhelm; Reitzenstein; Richard 1. Introduction Intellectual historians often face a contradiction inherent to their discipline. The historical dimension of their research requires them to dwell on circumstantial specifics, while the “intellectual,” or perhaps more accurately, the “ideational” dimension of their work entails more abstract reflection on the subject matter (Lovejoy 1940). The current study took shape in light of this contradiction: as its title suggests it focuses on Martin Buber’s (1878–1965) perception of Gnosticism; but at the very same time, it broaches themes as deep and wide as evolving conceptions of “science,” politics, theology, and their charged interrelationships.
    [Show full text]
  • History of the Christian Church, Volume I: Apostolic Christianity
    History of the Christian Church, Volume I: Apostolic Christianity. A.D. 1-100. by Philip Schaff About History of the Christian Church, Volume I: Apostolic Christianity. A.D. 1-100. by Philip Schaff Title: History of the Christian Church, Volume I: Apostolic Christianity. A.D. 1-100. URL: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc1.html Author(s): Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) Publisher: CCEL First Published: 1882 Print Basis: Revised edition Rights: Public Domain Date Created: 2002-11-26 Contributor(s): Wendy Huang (Markup) CCEL Subjects: All; History; LC Call no: BR145.S3 1882-1910 LC Subjects: Christianity History History of the Christian Church, Volume I: Apostolic Christianity. Philip Schaff A.D. 1-100. Table of Contents About This Book. p. ii History of the Christian Church. p. 1 Preface to the Revised Edition. p. 1 From the Preface to the First Edition. p. 2 Preface to the Third Revision. p. 3 Contents. p. 4 Addenda. p. 4 Literature. p. 6 Nature of Church History. p. 7 Branches of Church History. p. 10 Sources of Church History. p. 12 Periods of Church History. p. 13 Uses of Church History. p. 17 Duty of the Historian. p. 18 Literature of Church History. p. 21 Preparation for Christianity in the History of the Jewish. p. 36 Central Position of Christ in the History of the World. p. 37 Judaism. p. 38 The Law, and the Prophecy. p. 43 Heathenism. p. 46 Grecian Literature, and the Roman Empire. p. 49 Judaism and Heathenism in Contact. p. 54 Jesus Christ. p. 57 Sources and Literature.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rediscovery of Jewish Christianity : from Toland to Baur / F
    THE REDISCOVERY OF JEWISH CHRISTIANITY FROM TOLAND TO BAUR Edited by F. Stanley Jones Society of Biblical Literature Atlanta THE REDISCOVERY OF JEWISH CHRISTIANITY From Toland to Baur Copyright © 2012 by the Society of Biblical Literature All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permit- ted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Offi ce, Society of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The rediscovery of Jewish Christianity : from Toland to Baur / F. Stanley Jones, editor. p. cm. — (Society of Biblical Literature history of biblical studies ; no. 5) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-58983-646-4 (paper binding : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-58983-647-1 (electronic format) 1. Messianic Judaism—History. 2. Jewish Christians—History. 3. Toland, John, 1670–1722. 4. Baur, Ferdinand Christian, 1792–1860. I. Jones, F. Stanley. BR158.R43 2012 270.1072—dc23 2012006434 Printed on acid-free, recycled paper conforming to ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994 standards for paper permanence. Contents Series Editor’s Foreword .................................................................................vii Preface F. Stanley Jones ...........................................................................................ix
    [Show full text]
  • Pieperdifference.Pdf (51.77Kb)
    1 The Difference Between The Reformed And The Lutheran Interpretation Of The So-Called Third Use Of The Law [This article appeared originally in German in the Theologische Quartalschrift, Vol. 13, No. 2 (April 1916), pp 120-133. For the translation we are indebted to Prof. Richard W. Strobel of Northwestern College, Watertown, Wisconsin. Prof. Pieper taught at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary for 39 years, from 1902 to 1941.] By August Pieper Previously in this Quarterly in the article "The Law Is Not Made for a Righteous Man" we attempted to establish that for the righteous person, for the Christian as such, no law per se applies anymore in any way, neither as doctrine, nor as requirement, nor as curse.i This includes also the law, the law of God from Sinai. In so far as the Christian still has his sinful flesh, however, the law - precisely, the law from Sinai - still applies to him in each and every way. As in all of our work of this kind, we operated, as a matter of principle, only with Scripture itself, without bringing in human testimony. There was one exception: we did refer to our Confessions, especially the Formula of Concord, which ex professo treats of this subject in a special article. The aforementioned article brought several letters that heartily agreed with us, but also one that did not agree, and one that expressed hesitation regarding a main point. We may therefore take for granted that interest in the subject we have treated is quite general; and since the correct understanding of the nature and use of the law is of such
    [Show full text]
  • 3161515552 Lp.Pdf
    I Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Herausgeber/Editor Jörg Frey (Zürich) Mitherausgeber/Associate Editors Friedrich Avemarie (Marburg) Markus Bockmuehl (Oxford) Hans-Josef Klauck (Chicago, IL) 266 II III Edwin K. Broadhead Jewish Ways of Following Jesus Redrawing the Religious Map of Antiquity Mohr Siebeck IV Edwin K. Broadhead, born 1955; 1977 B.A., Mississippi College; 1981 M. Div., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; 1986 PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; 1991 Dr. theol., University of Zürich; additional studies at Bern, Tübingen, Basel, and Oxford; As- sociate Professor at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky. e-ISBN PDF 978-3-16-151555-2 ISBN 978-3-16-150304-7 ISSN 0512-1604 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament) Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliogra- phie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. © 2010 by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher’s written permission. This applies particularly to reproduction, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was typeset by Computersatz Staiger in Rottenburg/N., printed by Gulde-Druck in Tübingen on non-aging paper and bound by Buchbinderei Spinner in Ottersweier. Printed in Germany. V dedicated to Rev. Loretta Reynolds, D. theol. esteemed colleague dear friend beloved spouse VI VII Acknowledgements This venture into the world of Jewish Christianity is the product of an intense year of research and reflection at Oxford University. In a larger sense, the insights reached here represent the most recent stage of an interesting professional jour- ney.
    [Show full text]